Business Surges Again at Loguatuo Port

Business activities at the Loguatuo Port of Entry are said to be booming again as the pavement of the stretch of road from Sanniquellie reaches the sprawling border town of Loguatuo.

During a recent visit to the area by the Daily Observer, several lorries/ trailers loaded with goods were seen to be leaving the port for Monrovia, while several other goods were seen offloaded at the port for custom formality.

The Loguatuo Port of Entry is one of the leading rural ports of entry, located in northeast Nimba County along the border with la Côte d’Ivoire. However, revenue collection within the port has been on the decline in recent years due to the deplorable conditions of the road.

Even though it is not known how much is collected monthly, the current movement at the port indicates that business activities have once again picked up and are booming.

Lusine Lama Toure, a commercial driver, praised the level of development ongoing on the road so far and added that business is once again booming, but complained about too many checkpoints along the highway.

“We thank God for the development. Now we can reach with our tomatoes to the market with little or no damage,” said a tomato trader, who did not call her name.

Currently, the pavement of the road could be less than 20 kilometers from the border, because it is now close to Duoplay town, one of the bigger towns along the Karnplay – Loguatuo Road.

The rubble on the old damaged bridge linking Liberia and la Côte d’Ivoire was cleared by the Chinese road construction firm for a possible new one which, when completed, will greatly boost the trade between the two countries. 

In the absence of the damaged big bridge, there is a bailey bridge constructed by UNMIL.

Last week, Loguatuo came under the spotlight over the whereabouts of the intake from the huge export of palm oil to the Ivory Coast.

But, the customs collector, Varney Buudoe, via mobile phone clarified that every container of oil exported to the Ivory Coast goes through customs, where export duties were paid or collected with documents to substantiate said transactions. 

He told the local radio station in Ganta that every commodity that goes through the border met all customs requirements, where duties or taxes were collected in accordance with the customs policy.